April showers bring May flowers…and also meter, verse and rhyme. Inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month is held each April. The mission of this 30-day campaign is to promote poetry as a living art form, as well as remember our poetic heritage. Much of our oldest surviving literature — including epic works like The Odyssey, Beowulf, and Gilgamesh — are recorded in poetic verse. Likewise, today’s hip hop artists like Kendrick Lamar win praise for composing complex rhymes and delivering them with a melodic flow.

We celebrate National Poetry Month with a poetry-writing contest for teens and adults. Now in its sixteenth year, our 2014 contest runs through April 22 (which also happens to be Earth Day).

International Observe the Moon Night takes place Saturday, October 12. Look up and take notice of earth’s nearest celestial neighbor. There’s a lot to see with binoculars, a telescope or even just your naked eye.

For even more fun and potential prizes, snap a picture of it and post to Instagram with the hashtag #npldteens for week two of our month-long scavenger hunt. We’ll scroll through everyone’s moon shots and select the best one to re-post in our feed. The winner will also earn a small prize!

Moonrise happens in the Chicago-area right around 2:30 pm, so keep an eye out for it during the day! It sets at 7:45, so be sure to get out to see it in the early evening.

I hope everyone has had a chance to read and enjoy the first place winner of our recent short story contest!

photo by Kyle May

Our second place winner is Caroline Moy with “When Diamonds Become Ice Cubes.” Her story is published here. Although all the two winning stories began with the same first two sentences, they go in completely different directions.

Teen Advisory Board members have chosen the winners of the library’s first summer short story contest. Competitors all began their stories with the following passage:

As I planted my tan, scorched feet towards the front of the glass-like ocean, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I stood under the starry night as thunder rolled above and lightning danced in the skies.

Are you ready for our Hunger Games Challenge on August 11? Why not train yourself for the trivia portion of the contest by visiting the official Hunger Games Facebook page? You can also sign up to win free books there!